A quartet of Mudcats hurlers led by starter Rick VandenHurk held Jacksonville to five hits as Carolina rose to 7-6 in the second half of the Double-A Southern League season. It was Carolina's eighth victory in 11 games at the Baseball Grounds.
VandenHurk (3-1), staked to a 2-0 lead, gave up an earned run and two hits in the second. Lucas May slammed his 10th home run to put Jacksonville (6-7) on the scoreboard.
VandenHurk, a 6-foot-5 right-hander, went five innings, walking four and striking out seven.
Right-handed reliever William Glen worked a scoreless sixth inning then left with one out in the seventh with runners on first and second. Jesus Delgado, another right-hander, got out of the jam and yielded a two-out double in the eighth before getting the last out.
Chris Mobley, a Hickory native, took over in the ninth and gave up another two-out double before nailing down his team-high 14th save, including seven in a row.
Carolina jumped on Jacksonville starter Jesus Castillo (5-4) for a pair in the first inning despite a triple play by the Suns defense. Lead-off hitter Cameron Maybin singled then swiped second base for his 17th steal.
Maybin trotted home on shortstop Manuel Mayorson's ground-rule double down the left-field line. Mayorson came home on second baseman Chris Coghlan's single to center.
After Gaby Sanchez singled Coghlan to second, the Suns escaped when third baseman Lee Mitchell hit into a triple play. His short fly ball was gloved by Suns shortstop Ivan De Jesus who fired to second baseman Shane Justis to force Coghlan before Sanchez was tagged out.
It was the first triple play pulled off against the Mudcats since the erstwhile Greenville Braves turned the trick in Five County Stadium in 1999. The Suns also turned three double plays.
Carolina added a run in the third on Andrew Jenkins' RBI grounder. The Mudcats concluded their scoring in the fourth when Grant Psomas led off with a triple then scored on Maybin's one-out single.
Maybin, Mayorson and Sanchez each had two hits to lead Carolina, which banged out 10 hits against three Suns pitchers. May was the only Jacksonville player with two hits.
The teams will play two tonight with Monday's rained-out game the reason for the twinbill. The first game is set to begin at 6 p.m. with Chris Volstad (4-3, 3.28 earned run average) taking the mound while Tim Corcoran (0-1, 7.71 ERA) will start the nightcap.